Nursing Home Nurse Recovers Damages After Wet Floor Slip at Work

Slater and Gordon Lawyers have secured compensation for a nursing home nurse who was injured after slipping on a wet floor at work.

Slater and Gordon Solicitor:Matthew Tomlinson is a Senior Personal Injury Solicitor at Slater and Gordon Lawyers in Sheffield.

Settlement Value: Confidential

What happened: The client was working as a nurse in a residential care home.

When she walked into a resident’s communal bathroom carrying dirty bedding that she intended to place in a laundry basket, she slipped on the wet floor and injured her ankle and foot.

The floor was wet from being recently mopped and there was no warning sign outside the bathroom or anywhere visible on entry.

The client accepted there was a wet floor warning sign within the bathroom but it was lent against the door between the door and a sink hidden from view behind the client when she walked in.

The defendants denied liability stating that at the time of the accident, the bathroom was being used for the bathing of residents and that any water present on the floor was likely to be a result of that process. They said that the floor of the corridor next to the bathroom was in the process of being cleaned and wet floor signs had been placed outside the bathroom. They provided witness evidence to this effect.

In short, the defendants felt that adequate measures had been taken and the premises were reasonably safe for the client’s use.

County Court proceedings were issued and served. Matters were complicated by the medical evidence as reports were obtained from experts in the fields of orthopaedic surgery, psychology and pain given the client’s ongoing symptoms.

How Slater and Gordon helped: This was a difficult claim given the issues in terms of liability and causation.

Slater and Gordon Lawyers advised the client throughout her claim that the prospects of success were finely poised but, we commenced County Court proceedings and made a Part 36 offer to settle to the defendants which we felt put them at risk.

Through negotiation, settlement was reached without the need to proceed to trial.

Decision: The client was delighted with the outcome as it meant she could put the difficult few years behind her and focus on her future in particular, her return to paid employment.

Slater and Gordon UK Limited is a company registered in England & Wales with registration number 07931918, VAT 125 446 327, registered office 50/52 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1HL and is an approved Alternative Business Structure authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for insurance mediation activity.